Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier Book II; Masaaki Suzuki

Surprisingly perhaps, the period-instrument movement that has revolutionised how we hear most 17th- and 18th-century music has had relatively little impact on what we expect from Bach's keyboard works. The partitas and suites still crop up very regularly in piano recitals, while new recordings of the Well-Tempered Clavier are far more likely to be played on that anachronistic instrument than on a light-toned harpsichord. That's a major reason for welcoming Masaaki Suzuki's recording of the second book, which follows his account of the first after a gap of 13 years - but I'm tempted to say it's almost the only one. Suzuki is a great Bachian, but his treatment of these pieces seems altogether too awestruck and reflective. It's desperately heavy going at times, with the playing only occasionally sparking into rhythmic life. And the heavy-duty harpsichord he uses, very closely recorded, seems only to emphasise that stodginess.